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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
BRIDAL SHOP • MARKETPLACE, A5
GIRLS BASKETBALL • SPORTS, B1
Alexis Kay Designs opens in downtown DeKalb
DeKalb’s Johnson starts to pick up Division I offers
Maddy Johnson
D-424 cuts concern G-K residents By STEPHANIE HICKMAN shickman@shawmedia.com GENOA – Genoa-Kingston District 424 parent Lynn Ray is concerned about the district’s decision last week to cut 14 teachers, dozens of support staff and the freshman sports program. The cuts are expected to save more than $600,000 for the 2013-14 school year, which had a $1 million projected deficit before the cuts. But, in an
era of state funding cuts, they leave Ray wondering what’s next. “My main problem is where is it going to end with these cuts?” said Ray, a parent of a Genoa Elementary School fourth-grader and a Genoa-Kingston Middle School seventh-grader. “I think we need to get together and decide we’re not going to take this anymore.” she said. State officials recently announced they likely will
Joe Burgess, District 424 superintendent, said the district has been struggling financially in recent years. pay only 80 percent of its $6,119-per-pupil general funding next school year. Their announcement comes after years of deficit spending in District 424’s education fund, district
leaders declining to replace teachers as they leave and a 7 percent drop in District 424 enrollment last school year. The number of full-time certified staff dwindled from 160 in June 2008 to 139 in June 2012, as enrollment dropped from 2,035 to 1,872 in the same period. Meanwhile, the district’s education fund reserves – the amount of money in savings at the end of the school year – dropped from $8.5 million in June 2008 to a projected
$6.4 million in June 2013. District 424 Superintendent Joe Burgess said the district has been financially struggling for the past five years or so. “This sounds like a lot of money, but we’re still only cutting the deficit from ½ to 2/3,” he said, pointing to the expected $600,000 savings from the cuts. Cost-cutting measures have been implemented consistently in recent years.
“I think if anybody’s been regularly attending our board meetings for the last four to five years, they would know that we talk about this all the time,” Burgess said. Julie Sorensen, a visual arts teacher at Genoa-Kingston Middle School for the past 18 years, is among the teachers whose positions will be eliminated at the end of this school year.
See D-424, page A6
Quinn: Pension fix on the right path
DeKalb backing library project
Wants funding guarantee in bill By SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press CHICAGO – Any fix for Illinois’ nearly $100 billion pension mess should include provisions that the state make its full pension payment yearly and address cost-of-living increases and retirement age, Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday. The Chicago Democrat – who’s fought criticism that he wavers on how exactly he wants to overhaul Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension system – ticked off his wish list Monday, days after House lawmakers OK’d a third pension-related bill that’s being celebrated by some as a breakthrough. Quinn, who called the House action a step in the right direction, said he’d like a reform package to also make sure that pensionable salaries mimic the limit set for Social Security. Illinois’ five pension systems are a combined $96.7 billion short of what’s needed to cover promised retirement benefits to current and former workers. Over the years, the state either shorted or skipped pension payments. Quinn said that proposal should include a guarantee that Illinois will meet its annual required contribution. “The state can never ever again not pay what it should pay every year to the pension account. That’s why we’re in this situation,” he told reporters in Chicago. Pensions have been Quinn’s top issue for more than a year, but only recently has the flurry of pension-related bills surfaced. While lawmakers agree that it’s the most pressing financial problem, they’ve disagreed over almost every aspect of how to fix it and the approach they should take. On the table are both comprehensive plans and smaller bills that go after the problem piece by piece. Several plans overlap ideas. Last week, House lawmakers approved legislation to reduce and delay cost-of-living increases in state employees’ retirement pay.
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Graphics design and public relations assistant Emily Gron (left) carries items from a dumbwaiter to her new work station on the third floor as Jodi Sapita works at her desk Wednesday at the DeKalb Public Library in DeKalb.
City Council votes 7-1 to issue bonds for expansion By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – After weeks of deliberation, the DeKalb City Council threw its weight behind the library's planned expansion, opting to borrow no more than $8 million for the project. By a vote of 7-1, a number of aldermen reiterated their support for a 46,000-square-foot expansion of the 80-year-old library. They waived a second reading Monday night, meaning their votes were final action. Many of the aldermen were encouraged by the library's revised financial plan, which reduced the expansion's total cost from $24 million to $20 million and has the city borrowing only $6.5 million. “It says a lot about our community when we move forward together on a project that's very important to the community,” DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen said. “It’s more than just a library.” The bond issue will result in an 8-cent increase in the city’s
“It says a lot about our community when we move forward together on a project that’s very important to the community. It’s more than just a library.” Kris Povlsen DeKalb mayor property tax rate. It will add about $48 to the annual property tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 home who claims the homestead exemption. Since December, library officials have been trying to raise the local match for an $8.5 million state construction grant. They originally set a $15.5 million local goal, but recently reduced it to $11.5 million by putting off some renovations for the existing library. If library officials can reach
the $11.5 million threshold by June, they will have 140 days to begin adding on to the Haish Memorial Library building at 309 Oak St. The new building will go across Third Street. The City Council's bonding has been seen as the linchpin of the library's entire fundraising effort. The effort, with the slogan “From Barbed Wire to Fully Wired,” is scheduled to launch today. “We will launch our fundraising campaign [today] unless I hear differently,” Library Director Dee Coover said. The only dissenting vote came from 1st Ward Alderman David Jacobson, who also is a mayoral candidate. Jacobson reiterated his concerns that this project would limit how much the city can borrow in the future. He added that the city was misusing its tax increment financing resources by allocating $2 million to the project, which he said would not foster economic development.
See LIBRARY, page A6
Irongate housing project DeKalb City Council members postponed another vote on the proposed Irongate subdivision, which would have 1,273 homes on about 420 acres north of DeKalb High School. The next public hearing and vote on the issue is scheduled to take place May 28. See www.daily-chronicle.com for details on the discussion, which went late Monday night.
By the numbers
$8.5M $6.5M $2M $2M $1M
Amount to be awarded through the state grant Amount to be raised by city of DeKalb through sale of bonds
Proceeds from tax increment financing
Amount to be raised through private fundraising
Amount to be used from library reserves
See QUINN, page A6
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A3-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A2 A7 B1-2
Advice Comics Classified
B4 B5 B6-7
High:
38
Low:
25